Apple Pay picks up 39 new banks, credit unions in run-up to Apple Watch
Apple on Tuesday added 39 more banks and credit unions to the roster of institutions offering support for Apple Pay, bringing the total to more than 180 since the service's launch in October 2014.
The number of additions is identical to the amount from Apple's previous update in mid-March. As before the emphasis is on credit unions, though a number of conventional banks are also represented.
The new institutions include:
Apple is still working on expanding the number of stores that accept Apple Pay, since most are national and regional chains, rather than independent businesses. The technology has also yet to reach beyond the United States, though the company is believed to be looking to remedy the situation.
The number of additions is identical to the amount from Apple's previous update in mid-March. As before the emphasis is on credit unions, though a number of conventional banks are also represented.
The new institutions include:
- 1st Advantage Federal Credit Union
- American Savings Bank
- Bank of Utah
- Ballco Federal Credit Union
- BMO Harris N.A.
- Cambridge Savings Bank
- Campus USA Credit Union
- Centennial Bank
- Citadel Federal Credit Union
- Citizens Bank & Trust
- Citizens Equity First Credit Union
- Coastline Federal Credit Union
- Community Choice Credit Union
- Deseret First Federal Credit Union
- ELS Federal Credit Union
- Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union
- First Fidelity Bank
- First Hawaiian Bank
- Hilltop National Bank
- Illinois State Police Federal Credit Union
- JSC Federal Credit Union
- Lafayette Federal Union
- Logix Federal Credit Union
- MidFirst Bank
- Mission Federal Credit Union
- Missoula Federal Credit Union
- North Country Federal Credit Union
- Northrup Grumman Federal Credit Union
- Old National Bank
- PointBank
- Point Loma Credit Union
- Publix Employees Federal Credit Union
- Robins Federal Credit Union
- San Diego County Credit Union
- Stockman Bank of Montana
- Technicolor Federal Credit Union
- Truity Federal Credit Union
- USAlliance Federal Credit Union
- Utah Community Federal Credit Union
Apple is still working on expanding the number of stores that accept Apple Pay, since most are national and regional chains, rather than independent businesses. The technology has also yet to reach beyond the United States, though the company is believed to be looking to remedy the situation.
Comments
I really need Discover to get on board.
I really need Discover to get on board.
I agree! Once they're on board i will use ApplePay as much as i can. I have two bank cards that are in my Passbook for when i can't use Discover, but i rarely can't use my Discover card... I want my 1% cash back on everything and the 5% cash back for the special deals damn it!
http://www.pymnts.com/news/2015/whole-foods-banks-on-loyalty-apple-pay/
Finally! Actually I'm surprised my bank got it this soon. But whatever it's on the list and I just added my debit card to my iPhone.
What? How? Where did you get this information? Whole Foods profits didn’t "explode" because of Apple Pay. An increase of use yes but people would still go there and buy what they need and use a CC if NFC payments didn’t exist.
I agree! Once they're on board i will use ApplePay as much as i can. I have two bank cards that are in my Passbook for when i can't use Discover, but i rarely can't use my Discover card... I want my 1% cash back on everything and the 5% cash back for the special deals damn it!
Discover has mostly lost me as a customer over this. I used to charge *everything* to that card, then just pay it at the end of the month for the cash back. After a couple of months of the repetitious "we're talking to Apple" runaround, I started card shopping and found Citi's Double Cash card, which supports ApplePay and has 2% cash back on everything instead of Discover's 1%. Now I use Citi's card for almost everything, and only use the Discover for the 5% stuff.
Adding insult to injury (though it doesn't affect me because I don't use my debit card) Discover's hangup also affects my regional bank. My understanding is that they use Discover's network for their transactions, and THEY can't support ApplePay because Discover doesn't.
That's just silly. They increased profits because they attracted more customers by lowering its prices and increasing its advertising while opening new stores and remodeling existing ones.
All I'm asking for is one piece of evidence that directly says increase of profits is because of NFC payments.
Ok, I'll agree with you about better service. I go to Whole Foods practically every day because one is right across the street from my work and I love having lunch there. I use NFC payments there every time depending on the phone of the day I'm carrying. I have yet to see one other person use NFC payments. I even ask the cashier time to time if anyone is using it and they always say "maybe one or two times I've seen people use it".
Most people still don't know what NFC payments are or if they do they don't use it.
The problem is on the retailer side all right. Not enough of them. Even those who are officially on board are glacially slow to employ. Apple needs to offer incentives, especially to smaller businesses: underwrite or give them the hardware free.
I am guessing many retailers will incorporate Apple Pay with the upgrades required to support Chip & Pin (EMV) by October 15 deadline. I would expect many retailers to join up over the summer.
The problem isn't on the banking side, its on the retailer side.
The problem is on the retailer side all right. Not enough of them. Even those who are officially on board are glacially slow to employ. Apple needs to offer incentives, especially to smaller businesses: underwrite or give them the hardware free.
It's both. None of the four cards I carry in my wallet are supported yet.
For the curious, this is the complete list...
Apple Pay participating issuers
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT6288
The problem isn't on the banking side, its on the retailer side.
That will continue to be a problem for a while yet as company's like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Walgreen's and others are on the CurrectC bandwagon and so won't support Apple Pay. CurrectC is going to have to FAIL first, or go no where enough where company's can start jumping ship or start supporting both before CurrentC finally just fails.
Apple really needs to get going in other countries. NFC in other countries is far more popular. I hear Canada for example, NFC is in 90% of the businesses. That;s close by and should already be working. Need to pick up momentum.
Merchants are being forced into upgrading their terminals by the credit card companies or otherwise bear the brunt of fraud charge. By October every merchant will have an ?Pay compatible terminal or be on the hook for fraud charges. At that point there's no reason not to take ?Pay which is the most secure form of payment and doesn't cost them any more to accept. all ?Pay needs is time. Frankly, the lack of banks that support it is going to be the main issue slowing adoption. Once all the banks support it, and al the merchant terminals support it, Apple just needs to launch an education campaign for merchants and consumers, which I'm sure they already are, to get everyone on board. With the watch potentially expanding the pool of ?Pay users, that will help as well. The only merchants who won't take ?Pay are the ones signed up for competing payment plans, but with no systems materializing, that barrier is likely going away soon too. The biggest obstacle there for Apple is addressing merchants desire to track customer data, and offer coupons. I'm sure Apple is working on this as well.
Come October, we'll have the second generation of iPhone to support Apple Pay. That should jump things into 2nd gear. Percentage wise, there's not that many iphones out there that can support Apple Pay yet, and it's only in the U.S. right now that limits it much more. The Apple Watch will help a TINY bit. But i think if you can afford to fork out money for a Apple watch, you already have a iPhone 6 or 6+.
Discover has mostly lost me as a customer over this. I used to charge *everything* to that card, then just pay it at the end of the month for the cash back. After a couple of months of the repetitious "we're talking to Apple" runaround, I started card shopping and found Citi's Double Cash card, which supports ApplePay and has 2% cash back on everything instead of Discover's 1%. Now I use Citi's card for almost everything, and only use the Discover for the 5% stuff.
Adding insult to injury (though it doesn't affect me because I don't use my debit card) Discover's hangup also affects my regional bank. My understanding is that they use Discover's network for their transactions, and THEY can't support ApplePay because Discover doesn't.
Discover is one of the big fish we have to know Apple wants on board. We can only guess at why some banks are signing onto Apple Pay and others are not, but it's fair to assume that money has a lot to do with it. Harder to explain is why many of the large banks only partially support Apple Pay. What's up with that? Obviously Apple has made a big push for credit unions, but conspicuously absent from the list are hundreds if not thousands of community banks. If Apple has any sort of plan to bring them into Apple Pay, then it isn't working.
I like to see Ally Bank added. Further, retailer support is not consistent. For example, I can use it at Whole Foods, Meijer, Hillers [a super market in Michigan], McDonalds, and Walgreens generally with little trouble.
However, with some other retailers the experience is flaky. For instance, Lucky Market is listed as a Apple Pay partner, but it never works there. A card declined error pops up. The retailer just pulled its Apple Pay accepted here sign because of the problems. I suspect the problem is on the retailer end, but the end user just knows the service doesn't work, and meanwhile it looks like the retailer may be pulling the support all together.